border, mountains, memorial, reservoir

We left at 9 for the drive through the NP, going over a 1,900m pass. The cloud was right down at that point but we had a very atmospheric drive with views of distant misty limestone mountains, sparse vegetation, shepherd’s huts and not much else. All the houses have steep tin roofs so that the heavy snows slide off.

In the high plateau we stopped at a small
local place for a coffee and visited a memorial to the partisans who who killed by the Nazis in WW2.

Further on we stopped for a view down to the large man-made lake. With Temperatures over 35 constantly for the last 4 months and no rain it meant the water levels in this dammed lake is at its lowest ever.

Then it was a decent on a single-track road via 50+ Tunnels built by ‘volunteers’ using picks and shovels from all over Yugoslavia during the time of Tito’s “Brotherhood and unity”. Older People considered it a golden period- pensions, housing, and work meant it was one of the best economies in Europe. Things changed after his death.

We left Montenegro and its good roads when we reached the Bosnian border (where the potholes were just like home) and entered the Republic of Srpska which is part of Bosnia-Herzegovina. It has 49% say and BH has 51%. Republika Srpska was founded in 1992 at the outset of the Bosnian War with the declared aim of protecting the interests of the Serbs of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The war led to the expulsion of the vast majority of Crosts and Bosnians from areas under Republika Srpska’s control, while many Serbs, mostly voluntarily, relocated to Republika Srpska. Following the 1995 Dayton Agreement, Republika Srpska was officially recognised as one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This was supposed to be a temporary solution after the Srebinitza genocide when 8732 civilians murdered but nothing has been done as it suits those in control. Fatima says many young people are so disillusioned with the corruption that they are leaving for Austria and Germany.

We stopped at a service station by a river for lunch. We thought we’d have a light one so that we could go out tonight (most nights we haven’t eaten as lunch was so big) but the salad and the flatbread with sour cream turned out to be enormous and the sour cream was actually loads of cheese. It it’s not cheesy salad it’s something deep-fried which oh yes is also cheese.

Around 4 we got to Sarajevo which is situated in a valley surrounded by mountains, hence the 1984 Winter Olympics. We noticed bullet holes in houses on the way in - the siege lasted over 3 years. The streets are narrow so the bus parked up and we had to drag our bags for 300 yards up a steep hill to the Diamond Rain Hotel. Again we have a lovely big room but there is no aircon so we have managed to open the small window. It’s much warmer here.




.